U.S. patent number 5,179,658 [Application Number 07/784,662] was granted by the patent office on 1993-01-12 for information processing apparatus.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba. Invention is credited to Koji Izawa, Tadanobu Kamiyama, Shiro Takagi.
United States Patent |
5,179,658 |
Izawa , et al. |
January 12, 1993 |
Information processing apparatus
Abstract
An information processing apparatus having a scanner and a
magnetic disk, both for supplying data to be stored, and an optical
disk for storing the supplied data. The scanner supplies image
data. The magnetic disk supplies code data such as document data
and drawing data. The processing apparatus stores the image data
and the code data into the optical disk, each type of data having a
flag indicating its type.
Inventors: |
Izawa; Koji (Yokohama,
JP), Takagi; Shiro (Yokohama, JP),
Kamiyama; Tadanobu (Yokosuka, JP) |
Assignee: |
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
(Kawasaki, JP)
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Family
ID: |
27331594 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/784,662 |
Filed: |
October 24, 1991 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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243732 |
Sep 13, 1988 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Sep 14, 1987 [JP] |
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62-230020 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
345/536;
707/E17.009 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
16/40 (20190101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
17/30 (20060101); G06F 015/62 () |
Field of
Search: |
;395/275,164
;340/723,789,798 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Chauvin et al., "A Document Storage Application: The Sarde
Project", Proceedings of SPIE--The International Society for
Optical Engineering, vol. 490, pp. 39-42, Jun. 1984. .
Gibbs et al., "Muse: A Multimedia Filing System", IEEE Software,
vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 4-14, Mar. 1987. .
Horak et al., "Layering Approach Manages Mixed Documents",
Electronic Design, pp. 49-54, Apr. 15, 1982..
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Primary Examiner: Fleming; Michael R.
Assistant Examiner: Chun; Debra A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow,
Garrett and Dunner
Parent Case Text
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No.
07/243,732, filed Sep. 13, 1988, now abandoned.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An information processing apparatus for processing both image
data and code data, said apparatus comprising:
first storing means for storing the image data and the code data,
the image data including preliminarily converted image data
converted from a predetermined code data and the preliminarily
converted image data being stored in association with the
predetermined code data;
second storing means for storing identifying data specifying
whether the code data and the predetermined code data stored in
said first storing means are to be converted into image data;
means, coupled to the first and second storing means, for
retrieving the code data, the preliminarily converted image data,
and the identifying data from the first and second storing
means;
means, connected to the retrieving means, for displaying the
preliminarily converted image data retrieved by the retrieving
means;
means, connected to the retrieving means, for determining whether
the predetermined code data stored in association with the
preliminarily converted image data and retrieved by the retrieving
means is to be converted into image data by referring to the
identifying data and the displayed preliminarily converted image
data; and
means, connected to the retrieving means and the determining means,
for converting the retrieved code data into image data when the
determining means determines that the code data is to be converted
into image data.
2. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the apparatus further comprises:
means for displaying a message stating that the retrieved code data
cannot be displayed when said determining means determines that the
retrieved code data cannot be converted into image data.
3. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the apparatus further comprises:
third storing means for storing the preliminarily converted image
data as high speed display data having smaller contents than those
of the image data converted from the code data when the image data
and the code data are retrieved.
4. An information processing apparatus according to claim 3,
wherein the apparatus further comprises:
fourth means for storing high speed display code data;
means for expanding the high speed display code data stored in said
fourth storing means into high-speed display image data; and
fifth storing means for storing the expanded high speed display
image data before the expanded high speed display image data are
displayed by said displaying means.
5. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein said converting means includes a code/image conversion
circuit.
6. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein said displaying means further comprises
means for displaying the image data corresponding to the code data
converted by the converting means.
7. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein said identifying data includes an identification flag to be
set when the code data is expandable into image data.
8. An information processing apparatus for processing both image
data and code data, said apparatus comprising:
means for receiving code data to be registered in the information
processing apparatus;
means, connected to the receiving means, for converting the
received code data into corresponding high speed display image
data;
first storing means for storing the received code data and the
corresponding high speed display image data in an associated
manner; and
second storing means for storing first identifying data specifying
whether the code data stored in the first storing means is to be
converted into corresponding image data and for storing second
identifying data specifying whether the high speed display image
data is stored in the first storing means.
9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7,
further comprising means for supplying the code data to said second
input means.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention related to an information processing
apparatus for electronically filing documents in connection with a
recording medium of large memory capacity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, offices and manufacturing factories have been flooded
with a tremendous number of documents containing literal and
graphic information. This causes a need for effective filing and
retrieval apparatus. The recent documents may come in three
varieties: normal literal documents and drawings that are manually
written or that are drawn and printed in a conventional manner,
documents having character code data, as processed by word
processors, and drawings (having vector data) as prepared by
personal computers and CAD (computer aided design) systems. The
word processed data, and the graphic and pictorial data as
generated with the aid of personal computers and CAD systems, are
magnetically stored onto floppy disks. Generally, the hard copy of
these types of information, together with the floppy disks, are
filed for preservation and reference. The hard copy is space
consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,653 by Shimizu, issued on Aug. 5, 1986
discloses a document filing apparatus. The filing apparatus
optically and two-dimensionally scans documents by way of a
two-dimensional scanner, to pick up the information on the
documents, and stores the data as image data onto an optical disk
or disks. When certain data is needed later, the intended data is
quickly retrieved from the optical disk.
The filing apparatus of Shimizu can handle only the image data as
read in by the scanner. In other words, a document management
system employed by the filing apparatus is unable to handle both
the floppy disk (FD) stored data and the optical disk stored data,
because of format difference thereof. To store the FD data into an
optical disk, therefore, a user must perform two additional
bothersome steps: printing out the FD data into a hard copy, and
reading in the hard copied data with the scanner. Such steps are
time consuming, and may irritate users. Such steps may even make
the user avoid operating the filing apparatus.
Another information processing apparatus for document filing
apparatus exists and is capable of reading out the the data from a
floppy disk and storing it into the optical disk. In the processing
apparatus, however, the management system for the image data cannot
handle the floppy disk stored data. Therefore, when the document
data and the drawing data being stored in a floppy disk are read
out therefrom and stored into an optical disk, it is a common
practice to drive different systems. In most case, different
apparatuses have been used for the storage of such type of data
into the optical disk. Such storage operations by different systems
or apparatuses are bothersome and intricate particularly for
unskilled operators, and hence hinder a smooth filing operation.
Furthermore, the necessity of using the different systems makes it
impossible to both manage and preserve those documents including
drawings.
For the above reasons, an information processing apparatus capable
of handling and managing both types of the data, the floppy disk
stored data and the optical disk stored data is needed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an
information processing apparatus in which the FD stored data of
document and drawing are handled, e.g., like paper document and
drawings, and in which both types of data are synthetically
managed.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided an
information processing apparatus for processing both image data and
code data, the apparatus comprising first storing means for storing
at least one of the image data and the code data, and second
storing means for storing first retrieval data for retrieving the
image data from the first storing means and second retrieval data
for retrieving the code data from the first storing means, the
first retrieval data having a data structure for defining the
retrieval data and first identifying data representing the image
data, the second retrieval data having the same data structure as
the data structure of the first retrieval data and second
identifying data representing the code data.
According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided an
information processing apparatus comprising first input means for
inputting image data, second input means for inputting code data,
means for storing at least one of the image data input by the first
input means and the code data input by the second input means,
means for preparing flag data indicating the image and code data
input by one of the first and second input means, and control means
for making such a control as to store into the storing means either
of the image data and the code data input by the first input means
and the second input means, attendant with the flag data prepared
by the preparing means, the same data structure being applied to
both the image data and the code data.
According to still another aspect of this invention, there is
provided an information processing apparatus for processing both
image data and code data, the apparatus comprising first storing
means for storing at least one of the image data and the code data,
second storing means for storing first retrieval data for
retrieving the image data from the first storing means and second
retrieval data for retrieving the code data from the first storing
means, the first retrieval data having data structure for defining
the retrieval data and the second retrieval data having the same
data structure as the data structure of the first retrieval data,
means for inputting at least one of the first retrieval data and
the second retrieval data, and means for retrieving at least one of
the image data and the code data from the first storing means, the
retrieving means having first means for retrieving the retrieval
data input by the inputting means from the second storing means and
second means for retrieving at least one of the image data and the
code data corresponding to the retrieval data retrieved by the
first means from the first storing means.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an information processing apparatus
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a document management system
employed in the above embodiment;
FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram for explaining the
structure of a control program or software used in the above
embodiment;
FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram showing a configuration of
a FDR/W processing module of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 shows a format of the data employed by the above
software;
FIG. 6 shows a format of a main header;
FIG. 7 shows a format of an image header;
FIG. 8 shows a format of a volume data header;
FIG. 9 shows a format of a file data header;
FIG. 10 shows a memory map of a main memory including module
management data area, header management data area, and data header
part area;
FIG. 11 shows a flow chart explaining an overall flow in the data
registration processing;
FIG. 12 shows a flow chart explaining an overall flow in the data
retrieval processing;
FIGS. 13 to 15 show displays used for FD read-in processing;
FIGS. 16 to 20 show flow charts explaining a flow in FD read-in
processing;
FIGS. 21 to 24 show flow charts explaining a flow in FD write-in
processing;
FIG. 25 and 26 show displays used for FD write-in processing;
FIG. 27 shows a flow chart for explaining a flow in the
registration of specific application files;
FIGS. 28 to 30 show property sheets used in the specific file
select processing;
FIGS. 31 to 33 show schematic diagrams for explaining comparative
verification functions for code data check;
FIG. 34 shows a flow chart for explaining a control flow in the
retrieval processing for the specific application files;.
FIG. 35 shows a display containing error message;
FIG. 36 shows a display used for the specific application file
output processing;
FIG. 37 shows a display for foreign characters registration;
FIG. 38 shows a flow chart explaining the page change processing;
and
FIG. 39 shows a flow chart explaining test page change.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus
according to an embodiment of this invention will be described with
reference to FIG. 1. As is shown, the processing apparatus is
comprised of control module 11, memory module 10, image processing
module 30, communication control module 31, scanner 20, optical
disk 22, keyboard 23, CRT display device 24, printer 25, magnetic
disk device 27, another magnetic disk device 28, mouse 29, system
bus 41, and image bus 42.
The control module 11 is made up of CPU (central processing unit)
12 for controlling the filing apparatus, and interface circuit 17
allowing bidirectional communication between this CPU 12 and
external devices, such as optical disk device 22, and magnetic disk
devices 27 and 28. CPU 12 is coupled with keyboard 23 and mouse
29.
The memory module 10 is made up of main memory 13, page memory 14,
display memory 15, and display controller 16. The display memory 15
and display controller 16 serve as a display interface. The page
memory 14 has a memory capacity capable of storing image data
amounting to several pages of A4-size documents. Page memory 14 is
partially occupied by buffer memory area 14a. Data read/write for
buffer memory area 14a is controlled by a counter (not shown).
The image processing module 30 is made up of
magnification/reduction circuit 34, vertical/horizontal converter
35, compressor/expander (CODEC) 36, scanner interface 37 for
scanner 20, printer interface 38 for printer 25, and internal bus
39. Magnification/reduction circuit 34, magnifies and reduces the
size of a picture based on image data. Vertical/horizontal
converter 35 rotates the picture by image data through the
coordinate transformation. CODEC 36 compresses image data for
redundancy reduction, and expands the compressed data to restore
the compressed signal to the original signal. Internal bus 39
interconnects a group of magnification/reduction circuit 34 and
vertical/horizontal converter 35 with another group of CODEC 36,
scanner interface 37, and printer interface 38.
Communication control module 31 is made up of UCP (universal
communication processor) 43 and BCP (bus communication processor)
44. UCP 43 is connected to external devices such as an FCP
(facsimile communication processor) and personal computers, by way
of an interface means such as RS-232C, GPIB and SCSI. BCP 44 is
coupled with a LAN (local area network).
CPU 12 is provided with vector/raster converter 12a and code/image
converter 12b. Vector/raster converter 12a converts vector data as
drawing data as derived from floppy disk 28a into raster data as
image data. Code/image converter 12b converts code data as document
data as read out of floppy disk 28a into image data. The
vector-to-raster and code-to-image data conversions may be executed
by software, if necessary.
System bus 41 is a path for control signals and interconnects
control module 11, memory module 10, image processing module 30,
and communication control module 31. Image bus 42 is a path for
image data and interconnects memory module 10 and image processing
module 30.
Display memory 15 stores the image data as actually displayed in
the windows of CRT display 24, e.g., the image data as obtained
after the image data of page memory 14 is subjected to various
types of processings such as magnification, reduction, rotation,
insertion, and inversion.
Scanner 20, which is for example, a two-dimensional scanner, two
dimensionally scans a document by a laser beam, collects the image
data on the document, and outputs them in terms of electrical
signal.
Magnetic disk device 28 is a floppy disk device using a 5.25 floppy
disk 28a . The disk device reads the text files (document data)
prepared by word processors. (not shown) from floppy disk 28a, and
the code data files such as CAD drawing files and work sheet files
(drawing data) as prepared by personal computers. Floppy disk 28a
may use one of the many available OSs (operating systems)
formats.
Optical disk device 22 sequentially stores onto optical disk 19 the
image data as read out by scanner 20 and the code data as read out
by magnetic disk device 28.
Keyboard 23 enters the retrieval codes respectively assigned to the
code data and the image data to be stored into optical disk 19, and
various commands for operations.
CRT display 24 is one of the output devices and uses a cathode ray
tube as a visual presenting means. The CRT display 24 displays the
image data from scanner 20, the code data read out by magnetic disk
device 28, and the code data and image data as read out by optical
disk device 22. Furthermore, the display device is capable of
displaying more than one document by means of a maximum of four
display windows. For example, four documents can concurrently be
displayed, while being arrayed vertically. Various editing
operations, such as magnification, reduction, rotation, and scroll,
may be conducted in each window independently of other windows.
Printer 25 prints out data in hard copy form, such the image data
from scanner 20, the code data read out by magnetic disk device 28,
and the code data and image data as read out by optical disk device
22, and the image data being displayed by display device 24.
Magnetic disk device 27 is a hard disk device with magnetic disk
27a. Magnetic disk 27a stores various types of control programs,
retrieval codes entered from keyboard 23, and retrieval data
(management data) corresponding to each retrieval code. The
retrieval data includes memory addresses and data size of the code
data and/or the image data representing one document, which are
stored in optical disk 19 with the retrieval codes assigned, and a
flag to indicate the type of data, code data and image data. The
one document code data and/or image data are stored into a
retrieval data area of optical disk 19. Logical addresses are used.
Therefore, when accessed, the physical track address and physical
sector address in the optical disk is calculated for each
address.
Mouse 29 is a pointing device. The device is used to selectively
point to a desired item on the screen by moving a cursor vertically
and/or horizontally on the screen. The items are displayed in a
fixed location on the display screen, and include various modes,
edited image, range of cutting and merging of images, icons, and
the like.
How the image data and the code data are synthetically managed will
be described with reference to FIG. 2, from viewpoint of the
document management.
A document management system, as illustrated in FIG. 2, includes
data hierarchy having four strata: cabinet, binder, document, and
page. A cabinet corresponds to one side of optical disk 19. The
cabinet may be defined by a maximum of eight binders. Each binder
may contain a maximum of 30,000 documents. A title is assigned to
each document. The structure of the titles is defined for each
binder. One document is treated as a fundamental unit of a file. A
.cent.note", i.e., an explanation for document, may be added to the
document, in addition to the title. Each document includes a
maximum of 4095 pages.
The above document management system is structured correspond to a
paper filing system. The page corresponds to the paper file. The
document management system is designed to manage the code data, at
the level of the page. Specifically, the page corresponds to the
image data of one sheet of paper, the data of one sheet of floppy
disk (volume data), the data of one file, or the data by merging
the above three types of data. The document management system can
manage code data and image data, which must be separately managed
by the conventional filing apparatus. For example, within one
document, a source file group (code data) of a given program is
assigned to a first page, a program specification (code data)
prepared by a word processor, to a second page, the results of
processing (image data) to a third page.
A control program stored in main memory 13, i.e., the structure of
software used in the filing apparatus will be described with
reference to FIG. 3.
The software is made up of six modules, image input/output
processing module 13b, floppy disk read/write (FDR/W) processing
module 13c, optical disk read/write (ODR/W) processing module 13d,
display control module 13e, magnetic disk (MD) processing module
13f, and filing processing module 13a, which controls all the above
modules 13b-13e.
A control flow of filing processing module 13a in a registration
mode will next be described.
First, an operator determines whether the data to be registered is
image data or data from a floppy disk, and enters the determination
result to filing processing module 13a. After entering the title,
when the data to be registered is image data, image input/output
processing module 13b is called, so that the image data is
transferred from scanner 20 to the module 13b. Then, display
control module 13e is called, and checks the image data on CRT
display 24. Following this, ODR/W processing module 13d is called,
and the input image data is compressed, and recorded into optical
disk 19. After calling MD processing module 13f, the address in
optical disk 19, together with the input title data, is registered
onto magnetic disk 27a.
To register the data onto a floppy disk, FDR/W processing module
13c is called. The designation and processing of the registered
data, i.e., volume data, general files, or specific application
files, are executed within FDR/W processing module 13c. Therefore,
filing processing module 13a may be indifferent to these
operations.
Within FDR/W processing module 13c, necessary data is read out from
floppy disk 28a in response to a command entered by an operator,
and is set up in a predetermined format in page memory 14. Filing
processing module 13a calls the top address of the data and data
length, and ODR/W processing module 13d, and records the data set
up in page memory 14, into optical disk 19. When the data read out
from floppy disk 28a cannot be stored at one time into page memory
14, filing processing module 13a repeats to call FDR/W processing
module 13c and ODR/W processing module 13d. Upon completion of the
registration, filing processing module 13a calls MD processing
module 13f, and records the address in optical disk 19, together
with the input title data, into magnetic disk 28a, as in the mode
of registering the image data.
A control flow of filing processing module 13a in a retrieval mode
will next be described.
An operator enters a retrieval formula containing a retrieval key
and a key word for retrieval. The retrieval processing is executed
by MD processing module 13f. The result of the retrieval is
displayed by CRT display 24. Upon designation of a document to be
retrieval by the operator, filing processing module 13a outputs a
retrieval request command to ODR/W processing module 13d. ODR/W
processing module 13d determines the type of flag referring to a
data header part (to be described later). When the flag indicates
image data, the module 13a applies the compressing processing to
the data, and loads it into page memory 14. When the retrieved data
is code data, the data is loaded intact into page memory 14.
When the operator requests the display of the retrieved result, the
module 13a determines whether display of the retrieved data is
possible or not, referring to the flag. If display is possible, the
filing processing module 13a calls display control module 13e.
Under control of the called display control module 13e, CRT display
24 displays the data. If display is impossible, an error message is
output.
The called display control module 13e executes the processing for
the retrieved data, image data, or the code data, and causes CRT
display 24 to display the data on the display screen. When an
operator requests the storage of the retrieved data into floppy
disk 28a, FDR/W processing module 13c is called, and writes the
retrieved data into the floppy disk. In this case, the entry of the
file name in connection with the data writing is executed by FDR/W
processing module 13c. Therefore, filing processing module 13a may
be indifferent to the file name entry.
FDR/W processing module 13c is configured as is shown in FIG. 4.
This module 13c is made up of interface 50 for interface with other
modules, mode selector 51 for selecting either of the general file
or the specific application file, general file processor 52,
specific application file processor 53, and FDR/W executing unit
54.
FDR/W processing module 13c is called from filing processing module
13a. FDR/W processing module 13c reads out the code data from
floppy disk 28a and writes it into page memory 14, and reads out
the code data from paper memory 14, and writes it into floppy disk
28a. For the former operation, FDR/W processing module 13c is
called by filing processing module 13a in a registration mode. For
the later operation, it is called by the same in a retrieval mode.
The above processings include the operations to attach the data
header part to the data, and to interpret the same.
The formats of the code data and image data to be stored in optical
disk 19 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 through 9.
In this instance, the format of optical disk 19 will be described
in connection with 5.25 inch floppy disk 28a and a specific OS
file. If necessary, however, it is adaptable for other types of
floppy disks of 8 inches and 3.5 inches, a magnetic disk or a
magnetic tape, and other OS files.
As is shown in FIG. 5, the data of one page for optical disk 19
includes a data header part and a data part. The data part stores
the data of modules 1 to n. If the data of one page contains a work
sheet data file, a drawing data file (net file), and an image
expanded picture (plotter file), the number of modules of data is
"3". The data header part is made up of a main header portion and a
sub-header part representing a format of data. The main header
portion, as is shown in FIG. 6, further includes total data length
(4 bytes), total header length (2 bytes), registration date (4
bytes), number of constituent modules (2 bytes), specific
application flag (2 bytes), and preparatory area (2 bytes), and has
a total length of 16 bytes. The specific application has one of two
varieties: a document management application and a drawing data
management application. The document management application is for
filing document data prepared by a word processor. The drawing data
management application is for filing drawing data (CAD) prepared a
personal computer. The application flag (management data) of the
main header portion is used for indicating either the document
management application or the drawing data management
application.
Both drawing data and document data are code data. As for drawing
data, a plurality of files are generated for each drawing. In this
instance, these files are a work sheet file, a net file, and a
plotter file. The work sheet file is generated by an operator when
he prepares the CAD. The net file describes relative positions and
connections of parts in the drawing. The plotter file (vector file)
describes the above matters of parts in a format used to operate
printers and plotters. Under the drawing management application,
these related files are systematically combined into one page, and
are stored onto the optical disk for their management. The drawing
data thus managed may provide effective and smooth filing and
retrieval operations. Thus, the design drawings, together with the
information of the used parts, are filed and managed. In later use,
users may retrieve the drawings and their related information of
parts simultaneously.
As for the document data, a plurality of files, such as a document
file and a foreign character file in which foreign characters are
registered, exist for each document. Under the document management
application, these related files are systematically combined into
one page, and are stored onto the optical disk for their
management. The document data thus managed may provide effective
and smooth filing and retrieval operations.
The sub-header part, as is shown in FIG. 5, is made up of several
sub-headers whose number is determined by the number of constituent
modules in the main header portion. The sub-header has one of three
varieties: image data header, volume data header, and file data
header. The image data header, as is shown in FIG. 7, includes
sub-header length (2 bytes), kind flag (2 bytes), data address (4
bytes), data size (4 bytes), compression form (2 bytes: MH; MR;
etc.), scanning density (2 bytes: 200 dpi; 300 dpi; etc.), image
size (4 bytes: A4; B4; A3; etc.), and option area (0 to n bytes).
The volume data header, as is shown in FIG. 8, includes sub-header
length (2 bytes), kind flag (2 bytes), data address (4 bytes), data
size (4 bytes), device flag (2 bytes), density flag (2 bytes), OS
flag (2 bytes), volume name (12 bytes), and option area (0 to n
bytes). The file data header, as is shown in FIG. 9, includes
sub-header length (2 bytes), kind flag (2 bytes), data address (4
bytes), data size (4 bytes), device flag (2 bytes), density flag (2
bytes), OS flag (2 bytes), volume name (12 bytes), directory entry
data (32 bytes), and option area (0 to n bytes).
The kind flag is used for indicating image data or code data. Code
data includes volume data (data stored on the whole FD), or OS file
data. The kind flag of FIG. 7 is a first identifying data
identifying the image data. The kind flags of FIGS. 8 and 9 are
second identifying data identifying the code data. The most
significant bit of the kind flag indicates whether the data can be
expanded into image data, that is, an image expandable flag. More
specifically, this flag is set for image ,data and document data.
The flag is not set the object code data such as an execution file
of a software program. The data address indicates the address of
the data in the optical disk. The data size indicates the size of
the stored data.
The device flag indicates the type of floppy disk 28a from which
the current data is derived. In this instance, three types of
floppy disks of 5.25, 3.5, and 8 inches are available. The density
flag indicates a recording density of the used floppy disk, 2DD or
2HD. When a magnetic tapeis used, this flag indicates a recording
density of 1600 bpi or 6250 bpi. The OS flag indicates the type of
OS used.
The option area of the volume data header may be used to record,
for example, the directory table data in the volume data, i.e., all
the data stored in a sheet of FD. The directly entry data area of
the file data header stores, for example, a copy of the 32-byte
data as stored in the current floppy disk 28a according to the OS
used. The 32-byte includes file name, file size, date, etc. The
format of the data differs depending on the OS used.
Main memory 13, as is shown in FIG. 10, generally includes three
memory areas: module management data area 13.sub.1, header
management data area 13.sub.2, and data header part area 13.sub.3.
Module management data area 13.sub.1 stores module numbers, the
classifications of files, file names, the addresses and sizes of
the data stored in page memory 14, which are tabulated with those
items correspondingly arranged for each module, as is shown in FIG.
10. Header management data area 13.sub.2 stores the number of
modules currently selected, and the address and size of the data of
the header part as stored in main memory 13 (exactly stored in data
header part area 13.sub.3). Those items are arranged in a table, as
is shown.
A registration processing of the information processing apparatus
according to this invention will be described with reference to
FIG. 11. In the document management system referred to in
connection with FIG. 2, a plurality of pages are combined into a
document. A title, or retrieval code, is attached to each document.
According to the document management system, a title is first
entered (step S1. An operator enters, by a related key, a command
indicating the type of the data to be registered, code data from
floppy disk 28a or image data as read in by scanner 20. If the
entered command is for image data (step S2), a document is set on
scanner 20 (step S3), and is scanned by scanner 20 (step S4). In
step S4, the image information on the document is optically
collected and the collected data is properly compressed, and
finally stored into the optical disk.
If the entered command is for code data (step S2), floppy disk 28a
is set in floppy disk device (FDD) 28. The operator then enters a
command indicating the type of the data, i.e., volume registration,
normal OS file registration, or specific application file
registration, i.e., work sheet registration or CAD or drawing data
registration. If the entered command represents the volume
registration (step S5), it is determined if the directory list data
is attached to the data header part (step S6). If the answer is
YES, the directory list data is set in the option area in the
sub-header (step S7). Then, the volume data is stored into optical
disk 19 (step S8).
In the case of the normal OS file registration (step S9), a
directory list in floppy disk 28a is displayed and a file to be
registered is designated or selected (step S10). In this case, a
plurality of files may be selected simultaneously. After the data
header part is prepared, the designated files are sequentially
stored into optical disk 19 (step S11).
To register the specific application file (step S9), the module
name is designated (step S12), so that a set of files having a file
name formed under a given rule is automatically searched. After the
data header part is prepared, the file set is stored into optical
disk 19 (step S13). When it is retrieved later, one may desire to
display the retrieved data at a high speed. To meet the
requirement, step S14 is provided to designate high speed display
of the retrieved data. If high speed display is designated (step
S14), the data is formatted into a data format for the high speed
display (step S15). The formatted data is attached to the data to
be registered. This process will be described later.
If it is necessary to check the recorded data in optical disk 19,
an indication is entered to the filing apparatus. After the data
recording to optical disk 19 is completed, the information
processing apparatus automatically checks the recorded data, and if
an error is found, records the correct data again.
When the next page must be recorded (step S16), the above sequence
of steps is repeated, starting with step S2. To record the next
document (step S17), the repeated sequence starts with step S1.
A retrieval processing will be described with reference to a
flowchart shown in FIG. 12.
A retrieval formula is entered (step S21). A retrieval processing
is performed by using the retrieval data stored in magnetic disk
27a (step S22). A list of the related documents is displayed (step
S23). If a desired document is not found (step S24), the retrieval
formula is entered again (step S21). If the desired document is
found (step S24), the operator selects it from the document list
and directs the filing apparatus to execute the retrieval.
Then, the information processing apparatus reads out the first page
data of the selected document from optical disk 19 (step S25). In
step S26, a determination is made whether the read out data is the
image data or not, referring to the kind flag in the data header
part (step S26). If the answer is YES, the data is expanded and
then displayed by CRT display 24 (step S27). If the next page
retrieval is needed (step S28), the sequence of the above steps is
repeated from step S25.
If the decision result in step S26 is NO, control passes to step
S29 to check the kind flag of the data header part. If the flag
represents image expandable code data, the code/image converter 12b
converts the code data into image data. CRT display 24 displays the
image data (step S30). If the code data is not image expandable, a
message to that effect is displayed by CRT display 24 (step
S31).
Then, the data is output to floppy disk 28a. Before this
outputting, a determination is made whether the code data is of the
OS type (step S32). If the answer is NO, the data is output to the
whole of the floppy disk (step S33). If YES, the file name is
designated (step S34), and the data output is applied to that file
in the floppy disk 28a (step S33).
An FD read-in processing in the above registration mode will next
be described with reference to FIG. 13.
When a FD read-in processing is called from the registration
processing, the information processing apparatus requests an
operator to select one of a general file and a specific application
file, while presenting a display for mode selection on the screen
of display 24 as is shown in FIG. 13. The operator selects a
desired mode from those displayed items by mouse 29 or keyboard 23
(FIG. 1). If the operator selects the general file, the display is
changed to a display for a general file, as is shown in FIG. 14.
The selected specific application file will be described later.
The FD read-in processing when the general file is selected, will
be described with reference to flow charts of FIGS. 14 and 15, and
displays of FIGS. 16 through 20.
In FIG. 15, an operator sets floppy disk 28a loaded with data, in
floppy disk device 28 (step S41). Then, the operator selects the
type of a floppy disk to be used. To this end, either of FD5.25 and
FD3.5 in item [Device] on the display screen of FIG. 14 is selected
by means of keyboard 23 or mouse 29. Furthermore, the type of the
OS used when the data was stored into the floppy disk is selected
(step S42). Control accesses the floppy disk 28a, and reads out the
volume name and the directory list data from the floppy disk (step
S43), and stores them into main memory 13 while displaying them on
CRT display 24 (step S44).
The operator selectively points out a series of directive items
while seeing the display, by keyboard 23 or mouse 29 (step S45).
Icon [Module Type] including "General file" and "Volume" is first
pointed out. Either "General file" or "Volume" is selected.
Following this, icons [Check Display], [Module Select], and [Module
Delete], or [End] are selected in this order.
When icon [Check Display] is pointed out (step S46), a check
display processing is executed (step S47). As the result of this
processing, the dump data is converted into image data by
code/image converter 12b, of FIG. 1 and is displayed. As is shown
in a check display processing flow chart of FIG. 17, when the
"General file" is selected as the type of module (step S61), an
operator selects a file to be checked from the directory list (step
S62). The entire data of the selected file are read out from floppy
disk 28a (step S63), and are displayed by display device 24 (step
S64). When "Volume" is selected (step S61), no check display
processing is performed.
When icon [Module Select] is pointed out (step S48 of FIG. 16), the
module select processing is executed (step S49). As is shown in a
module select processing flow chart of FIG. 18, an operator selects
one file from the displayed directory list (step S71). When the
selected module type is the general file (step S72), the contents
of the file bearing the file name selected are loaded into page
memory 14 (step S73). The management data of that file is
additionally stored into module management data area 13.sub.1 of
FIG. 10 (step S74), and the data header is additionally stored into
data header part area 13.sub.3 of main memory 13 (step S75). The
file name is added to the module list on the display screen of
display 24, so that the number of modules is increased by one (step
S76).
In the display shown in FIG. 14, two modules are selected.
Internally, the loaded file is managed by the module management
data and header management data in main memory 13 (see FIG. 10). In
this case, the kind flag of the sub-header in data header area
13.sub.3 of FIG. 10 is set to indicate the general file. The data
size, OS flag, device flag, and directory entry and the like are
set.
When icon [Module Delete] is pointed out (step S50 of FIG. 16), a
module delete processing is performed (step S51). As a result, the
module already selected is deleted. As is seen from FIG. 19 showing
a module delete processing flow chart, an operator selects a file
to be deleted from the directory list (step S91). The number of
modules is decreased by one and the corresponding header is deleted
(step S92). Furthermore, the corresponding module management data
is deleted (step S93). Finally, the module name is removed from the
module list being displayed on the screen (step S94).
When the operator points out icon [End] (step S52 of FIG. 16), an
end processing is performed (step S53). As seen from FIG. 20
showing an end processing flow chart, the data address and size,
and the number of modules in header management data area 13.sub.2
of FIG. 10, the address and size of the data for page memory 14 as
stored in module management data area 13.sub.1, and additionally a
key word to be stored in magnetic disk 27a, for example, file name,
are transferred to filing processing module 13a (step S101). All
the module management data in main memory 13 are erased (step
S102), and the end processing is completed.
In the display of FIG. 15, "Volume" is selected for the "Module
Type". The operation of this mode is similar to that when the
general file is selected. The difference between the modes resides
in a sequence of operation steps, which results from selection of
"YES" for "Directory list" in step S81 of FIG. 18. The selection of
"YES" sets the directory list data in the option area of the
sub-header. The directory list data will be used in a retrieval
mode.
In the module select processing flow chart shown in FIG. 18, if
"Volume" is selected (step S72), the data of all the tracks of the
designated device (floppy disk 28a) are loaded as module data into
page memory 14 (step S78). The management data for that data is
additionally stored into module management data area 13.sub.1 in
main memory 13. The data header is additionally stored into data
header area 13.sub.3 of main memory 13 (step S80). At this time, if
the directory list flag is "YES" (step S81), the directory list
data is set in the option area in the sub-header part as stored in
main memory 13 (step S82). Furthermore, the selected module is
additionally listed in the module list on the display (step
S76).
As a matter of course, the general file and the volume module may
coexist.
A FD write-in processing as called from the retrieval processing
will be described next. Flow charts shown in FIGS. 21 to 24, with
reference to displays shown in FIGS. 25 and 26.
In a retrieval mode, when data is read in from optical disk 19, if
the data is code data, it is read in page memory 14. At this time,
if the image expandable flag is set, the data can be displayed.
When an operator directs the apparatus to write the code data into
floppy disk 28a, filing processing module 13a requests FDR/W
processing module 13c of FIG. 1 to write the data onto floppy disk
28a according to the direction by the data header portion.
The write-in processing to floppy disk 28a further calls the
general file output or the specific application file output by the
kind flag in the sub-header part. FIG. 25 shows a display for the
kind flag indicating the "General file". The specific application
file will be described later.
Upon calling of the general file output processing, the data header
picks up the type of each module and the file name (step S111 in
FIG. 21). In turn, CRT display 24 displays the display of FIG. 25
display including a module list (step S112). Incidentally, the
display of FIG. 25 is obtained when an operator retrieves the data
that is registered into optical disk 19 by using the display of
FIG. 14.
The operator selectively points to directive items on the display
by using keyboard 23 or mouse 29 (step S113). When icon [Module
Select] is pointed to (step S114), the module select processing is
performed (step S115). As is shown in FIG. 22 showing a module
select processing flow chart, the operator selects one of the
modules (step S131). More specifically, he sees the module list on
the display of FIG. 25 display containing two types of modules, and
selects a desired module by pointing to it using keyboard 23 or
mouse 29. Upon selection of the module, the device, the type of OS,
and the type of the module are read out from the sub-header in main
memory 13 are read out (step S132), and are displayed (step S133).
In the case of the general file (step S134), control terminates the
module select processing, and returns to the general file output
processing.
When icon [Check Display] is designated (step S116 of FIG. 21), the
check display processing is performed. The result is that
code/image converter 12b of FIG. 1 converts the dump data of the
module data into image data, and transfers it to display 24 for
display. As seen from the check display processing flow chart of
FIG. 23, the sub-header of the selected module is read out from
main memory 13 (step S141), and the address and size of the data in
optical device 19 is read out from the subheader (step S142).
Control reserves a memory area amounting to the data size in page
memory 14, and transfers the data address and size to ODR/W
processing module 13d. This module 13d loads the data into page
memory 14 (step S143). The data is also displayed on the display
(step S144).
When icon [FD Write-in Execution] is designated (step S118 of FIG.
21), FD Write-In execution processing is executed (step S119). The
result is to write the data into floppy disk 28a of FIG. 1. If the
file name change is decided, the file name of the file written into
floppy disk 28a can be changed to the file name that was used in
the data registration.
Reference is made to FIG. 24 showing the flow of the FD write-in
execution processing. If a decision diamond of S151 gives the
answer of the general file, another decision diamond S152 asks an
operator to decide whether the file name is changed or not. If the
answer is YES, the file name is changed to a new file name as
entered (step S153). Control reads out the address and size of the
data of optical disk 19, from the sub-header (step S154). Control
reserves the memory area amounting to the data size in page memory
14, and transfers the data address and size to ODR/W processing
module 13d of FIG. 3. This module 13d loads the data into page
memory 14 (step S155). The data is also converted into the code
data by code/image converter 12b, and loaded into floppy disk 28a
(step S156).
When icon [File Name Change] is designated (step S120 of FIG. 21),
the file name change processing is performed (step S121). When icon
[End] is selected (step S122), the output processing of the general
file ends.
FIG. 26 shows a display when "Volume" is selected for the type of
module. The processing for this type of module is similar to that
when "General file" is selected. In the difference between them,
the "Directory list" flag is "YES" in step S135 of FIG. 22. In the
case of "YES", when icon [Module Select] is selected, the directory
list stored in the option area of the sub-header is presented on
the display. This may be referred to when the data is output to
floppy disk 28a. As seen from the module select processing flow
chart of FIG. 22, when the device, type of OS, and type of the
module are displayed (step S133), it is assumed that "Volume" is
selected (step S134), and the directory list flag is "YES" (step
S135). In this situation, the directory list data is read out from
the option area of the sub-header (step S136), and is presented on
the display (step S137).
In the FD write-in execution mode, if "Volume" is selected for the
type module (step S151 of FIG. 24 showing the FD write-in execution
processing flow chart), the device (floppy disk 28a) used in the
registration is compared with the device currently used (step
S157). When these are not coincident, an error message is displayed
by CRT display 24 (step S158).
When coincidence occurs in step S157, the data of all the tracks of
the device are loaded into the present device or disk. The address
and size of the data in optical disk 19 is read out from the
sub-header (step S159). In the next step S160, control reserves a
memory area amounting to the data size in page memory 14, and
transfers the data address and size to ODR/W processing module of
FIG. 3. Module 13d loads the data into page memory 14. The data is
converted into the code data by code/image converter 12b, and the
converted code data is loaded into floppy disk 28a. In this way,
the data in page memory 14 are written into all of the tracks of
floppy disk 28a (step S161).
Alternatively, one file is selected from the directory list, and
the selected file alone is written into floppy disk 28a.
A registration/retrieval processing of specific application file
will be described. The registration of the CAD drawing data
prepared by a personal computer will first be discussed with
reference to FIG. 27. In the mode of registering the specific
application, an operator sees a property sheet on the display, and
selects a desired specific application file (step S171). Upon that
selection, related or intended files are searched (step S172). If
an intended file is not found (step S173), an error message such as
"Exchange the floppy disk for another" is given on the display
(step S174).
When control succeeds in searching the related files, i.e., the
related files are found, if the additional use of a high speed
display file is not needed (step S175) (this is designated by
pointing to "not used" in item [High Speed Display Data] by mouse
29 or keyboard 23 of FIG. 28), the header for the related files is
prepared (step S176). Next, those related files including that with
the prepared header are merged (step S177). The data of the merged
file is written into the optical disk (step S178). Control
transfers the selected file name, proper data, identifying flags to
filing processing module 13a (step S179), and terminates this
processing.
In step S175, if the additional use of high speed display is
needed, and "image data" is selected, the data is expanded into
image data (step S180) (this is designated by pointing to "Image
data" in [High Speed Display Data] of FIG. 28), and the image data
is also merged (step S177). If "High speed drawing" is selected as
in the designation of the above items, the high speed drawing data
is generated (step S181), and the generated data is also merged
with the files (step S177).
The registration of the specific application is be described below.
When the registration of the specific application is directed, a
specific application file processing module presents a property
sheet on the display as is shown in FIG. 28. After seeing this
property sheet, an operator selects a file name supported by this
specific application file processing module by using, for example,
mouse 29. Upon this selection, a list of file names with
properties, such as "CAD", are displayed as is shown.
As mentioned above, a sheet of drawing contains a plurality of
related files. Normally, the same file name attached with
appropriate proper symbols such as ABC, and XYZ are applied for
these files. The different file names will be found on the file
display, with omission of the proper symbols. In some CAD systems,
these files are listed in another directory or stored in another
floppy disk 28a. Therefore, when the intended file cannot be
searched as in step S174 in FIG. 27, an error message is presented
as is shown in FIG. 29, and the operator is asked to change the
present disk to another.
When icon [Check Display] is selected as in the case of the general
file, the designated drawing is displayed, as shown in FIG. 30. At
this time, this specific application file processing module
searches an image expandable file with the designated file name,
and expands it into the image.
As described with reference to step S176 of FIG. 27, the directory
name, volume name, and type of media of each file, and the
properties of each file such as file name, file size, and date of
data preparation are picked up and assembled into the document
management system.
For reliable and effective data retrieval, it is indispensable to
determine whether the retrieval file to be loaded into floppy disk
28a is correct or not before it is loaded into the disk. Therefore,
the information processing apparatus under discussion presents a
drawing developed on the display and this improves the operability
of the filing apparatus. For developing a CAD drawing on the
display, the utility routine to execute the image expansion must be
prepared for each CAD. Practically, therefore, it is almost
impossible to expand all types of CAD drawings into an image.
Identifying flags indicate the type of CAD used for the drawing
data, and indicate if the image expansion of the drawing data is
possible, at the current stage of registration. When reading out
the file with such identifiers by an information processing
apparatus, an operator may determine whether the file can be image
expanded or not by the used filing apparatus.
It is desirable to perform the retrieval of drawing data at high
speed. Even if the function to image expand the original data by
CAD is supported by the information processing apparatus, the time
consumed by expanding the data would considerably slow the
operability of the processing apparatus. This problem becomes more
serious as the size of the drawing increases. To solve this
problem, some measure must be taken to display the CAD drawing data
when it is retrieved.
To achieve this, in the information processing apparatus according
to this invention, the plurality of CAD data are registered
together with a file so formatted as to allow a high speed display
of the CAD data. This is realized by the steps S181 and S180 of
FIG. 27. Step S181 converts the CAD original file into the high
speed drawing data so formatted as to allow the hardware/firmware
for drawing processing be operable most efficiently, and to store
the CAD files together with the generated data. The display speed
achieved by this method depends on the performance of the
hardware/firmware used. Step S180 transforms or expands the CAD
original data into the image data, and uses the image data intact.
As in step S175 described in connection with the property sheet of
FIG. 28. Either of the two types of data, both of them, or none of
them is selected and additionally used. When that the CAD drawing
data is used for fixed purposes, this selection may automatically
be made if the selecting procedure is programmed. The selection may
be programmed by software. Furthermore, a combination of manual
selection and software selection may be used, if necessary.
As described above, different types of files describing one sheet
of drawing are systematically arranged and handled as a batch of
data for storage and management. There are various methods to
realize this document management. In the first method for the
document management, various drawing data are arranged into
documents, each with a title or a key word and a note. These
properties are used to define an identifier to indicate the drawing
data of the same drawing. In the second method, various data are
arranged into pages. With the data of one drawing within one
document, the data is stored at the memory location assigned to the
page number. In the third method, related files are merged into
unit data. The unit data is treated as one page. Further, the type
of data is changed for each binder. A combination of the above
methods also may be used. The above methods may be supported by the
filing apparatus according to this invention. In such a case, any
of the methods to be used may be selected manually. Further, the
selection may automatically be made by a software technique. The
above-described embodiment employs automatic selection.
In the first method, in which the data file of one drawing is made
to correspond to one document, when the data registration is
executed the work sheet file of that drawing is registered as a
first page. Then the net data file and the plot file of the drawing
are registered in the next page, and further the data file for high
speed retrieval display is registered in response to the
instruction by an operator, as described above. Some operation or
operation specification requires that as for the order of data
registration, the first page data is used as the image expandable
data. Satisfactory outputting of the data to the floppy disk
requires that the former order is employed. Any of the following
ordering methods may be used: (1) the order is determined case by
case, (2) the order is determined by an instruction from an
operator, and (3) the system determines the order.
In any of the above registering orders, the registered data are
each necessarily followed by the following property data: directory
name, volume name, type of media, file name, file size, date of
preparation, flag to indicate if the application software is used
for data preparation, data to indicate if the registered data is
expandable to an image, flag to indicate the type of CAD used, yes
or no for use of the high speed display file. The data are
registered page by page automatically or after check by an
operator.
In the second method, in which the data files relating to one sheet
of drawing are merged together into one page, when the data
registration is executed the data registration is performed in a
similar way, except that the data files are merged. Furthermore,
this method uses additional properties concerning the merge, for
example, the number of merged files and boundaries of the merged
files.
The information processing apparatus according to this invention
may register the data as prepared by every type of personal
computer. When the data registered is retrieved, the compatibility
of the apparatus with a floppy disk to be loaded with the retrieved
data, must be checked. To this end, a flag to indicate the type of
the OS of the personal computer by which the CAD data was prepared
is further used for the property data.
The specific application processing of the embodiment as mentioned
above is based on the latter method. Specifically, the work data
file, net data file, plot data file, and further high speed drawing
data are merged together. The merged data is stored into the data
part of the optical disk format shown in FIG. 5. The image
expandable files, data properties, identifying flags are stored
into the sub-header part. When an operator points out icon [End] in
the FIG. 30 property sheet, and checks the registered files, this
processing is automatically performed by the specific application
file processing.
The identifying flag to indicate the high speed display file is
stored to the option area of the sub-header of FIG. 9. It is
further stored as data to indicate the structure of the sub-header
in the application flag or the reserve area of the main header of
FIG. 6.
The CAD drawing data frequently describes a configuration of a
figure by combining predetermined parts. These parts are screws,
nuts, etc. for mechanical CAD, and general ICs, resistors,
capacitors, etc. for electrical such a CAD. In such CAD, an entire
drawing is generated by selecting their symbols and entering their
relative positions. This type of CAD requires data indicating the
symbols in addition to the data describing the relative positions
and connections. For this reason, when registering the CAD drawing
data, the symbols used are also registered. A general CAD uses two
types of symbols, general symbols and symbols for special parts.
The general symbols are used by every type of CAD. In registering
the CAD drawing data, it is only needed to add the symbols for
special parts alone. In the present embodiment, only the part
symbols other than the general symbols as designed by users are
additionally used when the data is registered.
When in data registration mode, appropriate code data is written
into the optical disk as in the information processing apparatus
under discussion, and for the code data to be written must be
highly reliable. Therefore, it is desirable to check the code data
before it is loaded into the optical disk. In this case, the most
reliable check is to read out the stored data from the optical
disk, and to compare it with the original data. The processing
apparatus under discussion employs three check methods, which are
selectively used depending on the apparatus composition used. These
will be described with reference to FIGS. 31 to 33.
The following discussion assumes that the data to be registered is
stored in page memory 14. The method to first be discussed is
suitable for an apparatus whose page memory 14 has sufficient
memory capacity. As is shown in FIG. 31, a memory area amounting to
the data size of the registered data (original data) is reserved in
page memory 14. After the data is loaded into optical disk 19, the
data is read out from the the optical disk 19, and loaded into page
memory 14. The read out data and the original data are compared in
page memory 14 to determine whether they are coincident or not.
The second method uses an interface circuit with a comparative
verifying function, as is shown in FIG. 32. With this function,
instead of loading the data of optical disk into page memory 14,
the original data to be written into the page memory is read out
and subjected to the comparison.
The third method shown in FIG. 33, modifies page memory 14 so as to
have a raster conversion processing function. In this method, the
data as read out from optical disk 19 is loaded into page memory
14, while being exclusively ORed with the original data. The result
of the exclusive OR operation is "0" when both data are coincident
with each other, but is a logical value other than "0" when both
data are not coincident. Therefore, a determination of whether the
operation results are all "0" suffices for the registered data
check. When both data are not coincident, the data must be
registered again. In this case, since the original data are
destroyed when it is read out, it must be restored into the correct
data by reading out it from the optical disk and writing it into
the page memory through Ex-OR logic. Alternatively, before being
read out, the original data may be stored in floppy disk 28a or
magnetic disk 27a.
As for these check methods, the information processing apparatus
according to this invention is arranged so that a check mechanism
is performed. The function used for the check mechanism is
designated in advance by an operator on the basis of the apparatus
composition.
The property data of the data, when registered, is preferably
stored onto magnetic disk 27a for managing one document. The
application software is designed so that, after the data
registration processing ends, the above data is returned as return
values to filing processing module 13a of FIG. 3, so as to allow
the property data to be input to MD processing module 13f. This
processing is similar to that for the general file processing.
Retrieval of the drawing data will be described with reference to
FIG. 34. Control causes filing processing module 13a of FIG. 3 to
retrieve the document by the ordinary procedure. At this time, the
retrieved document is checked to determine if it is normal image
data. If it is not normal image data, a decision is made as to
whether or not the document is the specific application file,
referring to the identifying flag described in the data. If it is
not the specific application file, the general file processing is
performed.
When the decision is made that the present document is the specific
application file, control determines whether software for executing
the processing of the data is installed in the processing apparatus
(step S191). If such software is not installed (step S192), control
presents a warning message on the display, as is shown in FIG. 35,
and asks the operator to forcibly load the application file intact
into a specific file according to the format of the apparatus or to
not write the same (step S193).
When the software is installed, control expands the file according
to the data structure as set at the time of its registration (step
S194). In other words, the vector data supplied from floppy disk
28a is transformed into raster data (image data) by vector/raster
converter 12a of FIG. 1.
During the check of the retrieved data, which is performed in
normal retrieval mode, control picks up the option area of the
sub-header, and checks the contents of the identifying flag to
indicate if the high speed display data is present or absent (step
S195). If high speed display data is present, control executes the
image display (step S196) or the high speed image expansion (step
S197). If high speed display data is not present, control executes
the normal image expansion (step S198).
After an operator checks the data (step S199), the specific
application file processing presents a property sheet as is shown
in FIG. 36, on the display, and requires the operator to select the
device used. The property sheet shows the types of support
apparatus by which the specific application file was generated,
such as CAD-A, CAD-B, and CAD-C, and shows the expanded files. The
application software automatically executes the following tasks; 1)
set the data respectively into files, 2) register the data in
designated directory, and record data into different floppy disks
28a (step S200).
When the data is recorded into floppy disks 28a, an operator will
frequently encounter floppy disks with different OS formats from
that of the retrieved data. This difference can be determined by
the OS identifying flag. After it is determined, if the format is
different (step S201), control presents an error message to that
effect, and requires an operator to make actions, for example, disk
exchange and delete (step S202).
The remaining processings are substantially the same as those for
the general file processing module.
The following describes the specific application file and the
registration and retrieval of the document data (text file) by the
word processor. The registration/retrieval processing of this type
of document data, which is performed by code/image converter 12b of
FIG. 1, is substantially the same as that of the CAD drawing data
described above. When the document data contains special characters
such as externally resistered characters, the data of special
characters may be registered. To this end, the processing apparatus
is capable of displaying a property sheet, as is shown in FIG. 37.
In registering the word processor document data, i.e., text data,
an operator may select either to register or not to register
foreign letters while viewing the displayed property sheet. In the
usual text data management, the data containing a plurality of
pages or text pages is registered into a single file. The data file
is printed out page by page, divisionally. In the data management
system according to this invention, however, one page is assigned
to one file, as described above. The difference between these data
management systems are removed by the following two methods: 1)
when next/preceding page is designated on the retrieval display,
the data are successively processed file by file, and 2) when text
next/preceding page is designated, the text data is successively
updated page by page within the same file.
The processing flow of the registration/retrieval of text data will
be described with reference to FIGS. 38 and 39. In FIG. 38, when
the next page or the preceding page is designated (step S211),
control reads out the address of the retrieved data (step S212).
The data specified by the address is read out from optical disk 19
(step S213) and displayed on CRT display 24 (step S214).
In FIG. 39, when text next page of text preceding page is
designated (step S221), control determines whether the data
currently displayed is the text data or not (step S222). If the
answer is YES, the processing is made so that the display position
of the present data of page memory 14 is shifted forward or
backward by one page (step S223). Then, that data is displayed
(step S224).
As described above, an information processing apparatus according
to this invention is capable of smoothly handling the document data
and drawing data stored in the floppy disk, such as paper documents
and drawings.
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